Rounding Third Softball

Defending National Champion Oklahoma City has been chosen No. 1 in the 2023 NAIA Preseason Coaches Top 25 Poll. The Stars won their 11th NAIA National Championship in 2022 finishing with an impressive 56-4 record.

RANK	LAST WEEK	SCHOOL [1st Place Votes]	RECORD	FINAL POINTS
1	1	Oklahoma City [18]	54-6	498
2	2	Mobile (Ala.)	52-4	482
3	3	Science & Arts (Okla.)	53-10	464
4	4	Southeastern (Fla.)	52-13	442
5	5	Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.)	54-6	430
6	6	Indiana Wesleyan	54-10	424
7	7	Oregon Tech	50-13	410
8	13	Central Methodist (Mo.)	42-7	372
9	9	Tennessee Wesleyan	37-9	357
10	12	Southern Oregon	49-14	355
11	8	Grand View (Iowa)	46-12	334
12	11	William Carey (Miss.)	48-11	331
13	22	College of Idaho	43-17	285
14	17	Georgia Gwinnett	36-20	276
15	15	Our Lady of the Lake (Texas)	46-13	257
16	16	Columbia (Mo.)	35-12	244
17	19	Marian (Ind.)	40-13	225
18	20	Coastal Georgia	39-14	219
19	14	Eastern Oregon	43-17	218
20	25	Campbellsville (Ky.)	38-18	208
21	23	William Jessup (Calif.)	39-15	151
22	RV	Midland (Neb.)	38-12	131
23	10	Webber International (Fla.)	42-24	120
24	NR	Cumberlands (Ky.)	35-16	119
25	21	Saint Xavier (Ill.)	39-8	94

Dropped from the Top 25: Madonna (Mich.), Lindsey Wilson (Ky.)

Others Receiving Votes: Ottawa (Kan.) 79, Embry-Riddle (Ariz.) 67, Texas A&M Texarkana 64, Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) 64, Bellevue (Neb.) 56, Cottey (Mo.) 35, Aquinas (Mich.) 31, St. Mary of the Woods (Ind.) 22, Mount Mercy (Iowa) 14, Mount Vernon Nazarene (Ohio) 10, Vanguard (Calif.) 8, Friends (Kan.) 4, Oklahoma Panhandle State 3, Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) 3, Rio Grande (Ohio) 3.

Former University of South Carolina Head Coach Joyce Compton was inducted into the school’s Athletics Hall of Fame last night in a ceremony held in Columbia. Compton retired as coach of the Gamecocks in 2010 after 24 years on the bench amassing 951 victories. Her overall career coaching record is 1,066-563-4. Compton led South Carolina to the NCAA Tournament 13 times during her tenure, including two trips to the Women’s College World Series.

The NCAA Division I Council is considering re-classifying volunteer assistant coach positions for both softball and baseball into paid, full-time roles. The move brought by the NCAA Rules Modernization Committee earlier today initially prioritized lifting the pay restrictions on football graduate assistants. Currently NCAA Softball allows for two full-time paid assistant coaches along with a volunteer position (a total of four on-field coaches counting the head coach).

The move has long been pushed by Softball Politico as a way to supply more opportunities in the coaching profession. Concerns within the profession however have been young coaches immediately being placed in full-time positions with little experience, and the struggle to fill current allotted positions with qualified individuals. Other concerns have been institutes that don’t fund second positions currently (or even first positions well enough), creating a “rich get richer” situation and further increasing the Grand Canyon divide between Softball’s Haves and Have Nots.

Olympia Haarlem won the Dutch National Softball Championship defeating the Tex Town Tigers in the series final last weekend. Olympia Haarlem and Tex Town would go the full five games in the championship series. Olympia won the first two games of the series 5-1 and 9-2. Tex Town would battle back winning games three and four 6-5 and 4-2 to force a deciding game five. Olympia Haarlem would secure their second Dutch Championship in as many years winning the final game 3-2. Olympia Haarlem’s Marielle Vleugels was named the Finals MVP.

RTS has learned that California Native Marc Kendrick has joined the coaching staff at Tennessee Tech. Kendrick has previously worked on collegiate staffs at Santiago Canyon College and California Baptist University. He also was head coach at Capistrano Valley High School and worked with several club level squads in his home state. Kendrick is the first assistant hire of new Golden Eagles Head Coach Danielle Penner.

RTS is saddened to report the passing of former Loyola Marymount Coach Gary Ferrin. Ferrin coached the Lions for 21 seasons amassing 693 wins. During that run he led LMU to 15 winning seasons, including nine straight from 1999-2008. Ferrin earned PCSC Coach of the Year honors on three occasions.

Kennesaw State has announced it will join Conference USA for the 2024-25 season. The Owls currently compete in the Atlantic Sun Conference. The transition for all sports will be official on July 1, 2024. KSU Softball finished the 2022 season 23-28 and 12-12 in ASUN play.

USA Softball has named the 15-player roster set to compete in the 2022 Pan American Championship in Guatemala City, Guatemala. The U.S. Women’s National Team will vie for a berth in the the 2024 World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) World Cup while competing in Central America November 12-19.

The team is made up of two current and 13 former NCAA Division I student-athletes The complete details for the USWNT Pan American squad can be found at https://www.teamusa.org/…/USA-Softball-Womens-National…

Alabama has announced that Adam Arbour has returned to the staff. Arbour has been hired as Coordinator of Player Management. He served as the volunteer assistant coach for the Crimson Tide between 2011-14, and then again from 2015-2017. He has previously served on staffs at both Michigan and Iowa.

The 2022 season will be the last for Monica Abbott in the Land of the Rising Sun. Abbott announced this evening that this season with the Toyota Red Terriers will be her last. She has played the last 14 years in the Japanese Professional League with Toyota. Abbott says this will be the end of her playing time “overseas”, indicating she will still be competing professionally in the U.S.